by Manal Barakat, SeaNewsEditor

Several Danish shipping companies, including Maersk and Uni-Tankers, have received threatening emails from the Yemeni Houthi movement.

In the email, the Iran-backed group has warned that vessels transiting the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean will be directly targeted if they carry cargo connected to Israel.

One of the Danish companies has confirmed that a few employees across the shipping market have received these threats, although they have not kept detailed statistics on the number of incidents.

The organisation believes such threats are widespread and have been occurring for a long time.

According to the Danish online newspaper Shipping Watch, the email states that if Danish Shipping members sail to or from Israeli ports, they will be placed on a “ban list”.

The email reads, "Please be advised that if any vessel which is considered to be owned, managed and operated by your company, enters one of the ports of the usurping Israeli entity, it will have violated the ban criteria," writes the newspaper.

Similarly, the German Shipowners' Association (VDR) has reported that several German shipping companies have received similar threats.

German market analysts claim these emails, sent to individualised contacts, suggest well-researched address lists.

Since the beginning of the Houthi attacks in the region, shipping companies have been rerouting their vessels around the southern tip of Africa as a precautionary measure, extending transit times and impacting supply chains.

However, even though traffic through the Bab el Mandeb is down approximately 60% year-on-year, experts believe "the Red Sea is certainly not closed for business," and some ships remain undeterred by the Houthi threats.